At some point during the battle Render had lost track of Rob, the constant and precise attacks of even just the Skeletons that could reach them demanding far too much of their attention for any to be spared keeping track of their ally. Admittedly, such flimsy weapons- wielded more like farming implements than instruments of war- were incapable of leaving more than a scratch on their Deep-Forged armour, but even superficial damage would be a chore to get fixed.
They couldn’t exactly go to just any Blacksmith after all, even if they were capable of handling such armour without ruining it there was still the other, far more pressing, factor to consider. There were very few Blacksmiths they could trust to work on armour that was still being worn without asking questions.
All this to say, Render was forced to throw themself into a brutal melee, burning through their Outer Soul so that they could ensure the Skeletons they put down stayed down. At the rate they needed to burn it, they would likely only be able to keep fighting at full strength for a few minutes, five at most.
Killing a single Skeleton on its own was a simple task that would likely only take a second or two, but killing it whilst surrounded by dozens of its kin without a single scratch was not. Trying to find the right time to strike whilst dancing and weaving through every attack that came their way meant that they were only able to kill one Skeleton in over 10 seconds of intense combat.
I cannot defeat the Necromancer without a scratch, and reaching them would either take far too long or deal an unacceptable amount of damage. For now, I will have to rely on Rob’s capabilities.
They were pulled from their half formed musings by the presence of three souls carefully circling around them. The Revenants. This Necromancer was clearly talented, to not only be able to create such powerful Undead, but also disguise them as mere footsoldiers. Although the use of talented and not experienced is key here.
To Render’s Soul Sight their presence was as visible as the sun in the sky, but even without that their gaits were distinctly more practised, and their weapons were made of good steel rather than the rusted iron that was used by the rest of the forces.
Even still, anyone not knowledgeable on the strategies of a Necromancer would have likely missed such details and been completely unprepared to face them. It was quite frankly an impressive trap, but there was one major downside.
Render’s fist rammed through one of the Revenant’s skulls as soon as it neared, taking a glancing blow from one of the weaker Skeletons for their effort.
One of the main processes that makes a Revenant so powerful is the addition of a still living human soul in its skull, which gives it a Mana Pool and a mind of its own. This allows them to use weapons more skillfully, and enhance their magical structures to exert much greater force. But of course, it comes with the addition of a glaring weak spot, significantly damage the skull and it will simply fall apart.
Most Necromancers solve this problem by heavily armoring their Revenants, but by disguising them as they had this becomes impossible, and makes them just as fragile as a regular Skeleton.
Soon after they took out one of their brethren, the other Revenants simultaneously charge at Render, giving up the pretence of a disguise and trying to take them out in a pincer manoeuvre. Render, anticipating such an attack, swept their arm behind them to create some space and stepped back, allowing the attackers to slam into each other.
In the few moments that they were dazed Render was able to bash their skulls together until they lost what hold they had on the souls, which quickly took the opportunity to vanish, most likely returning to the afterlife to be reincarnated in the other realm.
They took a moment to give a short prayer for the lost souls, willingly tanking a few more weak attacks in the process, and then returned to dodging and- as often as they could manage- attacking.
It was just moments after they felt a shift just barely out of their detection range for Humans, most likely implying that either Rob or the Necromancer had made some great progress with a Skill in the midst of battle, that their Outer Soul began to show signs of wearing out.
They would have a minute until they could no longer move with any degree of precision, and only 30 seconds until they would be unable to destroy the Skeletons in just one shot. At this point, they realised that trying to protect their armour was no longer viable, and they would need to find some way to assist Rob in finding an opening.
I can reach his location within 10 seconds, assuming he’s the one that progressed a Skill, that should give me plenty of time to clear the area around him, which I can only hope is enough for him to subdue the Necromancer.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Plan set, Render swept at the Skeletons in the way of their path and bulldozed through the gap, throwing punch after punch at anything in their way. The reckless charge rewarded them with dozens of small scratches, and even some much larger ones where weapons had caught on the gap created by another one and managed to widen it significantly, but they arrived at Rob’s location with over 20 seconds left until they would be forced to retreat.
“Rob, we are running out of time. I cannot keep fighting for much longer, and there are still over half of the Skeletons left.” Rob blanched at the number, most likely overestimating Render’s own abilities and expected there to be far less, but they ignored that and continued to speak, “I will do my best to create an opening, will you be able to deal with the Necromancer with, let’s say, 15 seconds.”
Technically I have slightly more time than that, but it would be best to be on the safe side in this case.
After taking a moment to think, Rob replied with a simple “On it” and crouched down. Lightning began to build around them, increasing by a significant amount every second, but Render didn’t have the time to admire it.
Already Skeletons were closing in on Rob, ignoring Render entirely, so they quickly got to work. Completely ignoring any attacks launched against them, they dashed to and fro, decimating any Skeletons that got close, but taking even more damage with their disregard for personal safety.
I would be lucky if this cost less than a gold piece to fix, but I suppose it's worth it to remove the threat of a Necromancer.
Roughly 5 seconds later, Render felt a rush of wind and static, looking down to see that Rob had seemingly vanished from the battlefield. No, he hadn’t vanished, had he? They glanced upward, despite the openings it created for the fodder, and saw that Rob had quite literally leapt through the air, soaring in an arc directly towards a hooded figure that they just then recognised as the Necromancer.
Rob was holding a whitish-cyan orb in his hands, likely one of his signature Lightning Bolts, and looked about ready to obliterate the Necromancer. His target, clearly unwilling to take the attack lying down, prepared a spell of their own.
Render expected the murky green Mana that denoted an affinity for Undeath, but the array built between their hands was distinctly not that. It was a vivid crimson, like freshly spilled blood, and as it moved to form the lines and curves of some unknown spell it left behind a strange mist. Somehow, the mist also formed some distance away from the caster, and it had already enveloped Rob by the time he was ready to launch his Bolt.
What is this? It feels familiar, could it be Soul Magic?
But they didn’t get any more time to study the bizarre Affinity before Rob’s own spell seemed to snap into existence, for an instant creating a white hot cone of devastation that mysteriously only seemed to affect the red mists.
Combat Cleared
1 Skeleton Army [Levels 1-7] Defeated
1 Ancient Necromancer [Level 31] Defeated
When the mana cleared, the Necromancer and all of their Skeletons fell to the ground, somehow looking to be completely unharmed from such a brutal attack, and Rob quickly followed.
Ah, he did not create a plan for his landing.
They chuckled in amusement at Rob’s youthful impulsiveness, before suddenly stopping and feeling a slight amount of guilt.
He’s not hurt, is he?
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As it turns out, he was remarkably unharmed. He must have had some kind of defensive skill, because his physical body was remarkably unharmed. The same could not be said of his Soul, however.
Before the fight his Outer Soul had already been run ragged by the stress of loss and the apparent lack of sleep over a period of at least two days, and his short nap had only superficially helped recover that. After such an intense and stressful, for him at least, battle his Outer Soul looked almost as damaged as Render’s, with some parts of the Inner Soul also looking to be strained.
It was likely that he would need to rest for a few days to fully recover, but ultimately none of the damage was beyond what would be expected for someone who had been working nonstop without resting their mind with sleep, so Render allowed a sigh of relief to escape their helmet.
“And now, you.”
They turned to the Necromancer, the one who had been a large contributor to Rob’s current state. After Rob’s attack they’d lost consciousness for a few seconds, and the magic upholding their Skeletons had somehow been unable to sustain itself, as though the Necromancer no longer had the raw power to keep the spell active.
By the time Render had arrived, and looked over Rob’s condition, the Necromancer appeared to be resigned to their fate, laying in the grass and staring at the sky.
“You should know that becoming a Necromancer was an incredible mistake. If your Mana Pool was awakened then you could have easily taken the standard Mage Path and lived a comfortable life. Instead you killed an unknown amount of people, and will now be either imprisoned for life or killed.” They at least looked to regret their actions, looking at something in the distance to Render’s side instead of trying to maintain eye contact.
Render sighed and continued speaking, “Perhaps you can begin to atone by at least preventing the resurgence of this magic. Tell me, how did you manage to be offered a Path based around a long dead practice? I do not believe anyone could have taught you, as they would be the one to be called Lord Of The Dead.”
Distractedly, they replied as though the conversation was of no importance, “There was an old tower in the woods. I learnt it from the books and turned a skeleton I found inside into my first minion.”
It’s good that she at least told me with no trouble, but I can’t help but feel there is something amiss here. Is she reading something?
“Is there something taking your attention? Any new Skills would be useless, as there is no chance of escape now.”
She just grinned at me, and began to carefully study whatever screen she was being shown.
Render made a displeased ‘hm’ sound, before sitting to keep watch of the prisoner (who he was sure would remain as such for the foreseeable future) until either Rob woke up or someone realised that something had happened and came to properly secure the Necromancer.
I suppose one who is sane is unlikely to become a Necromancer in this day and age.